Heading into this weekend's road duals, assistant coach Troy Letters knew the competition would be a proper test for the ranked Nittany Lions before the NCAA tournament.
The question was whether they would pass that test.
In his post-meet radio remarks, Penn State coach Cael Sanderson was generally pleased with the Nittany Lions' performance against Wisconsin. With several key victories, some Lions proved their national tournament potential this weekend.
"Even the matches we lost," Sanderson said, "for the most part, they wrestled the whole time."
Frank Molinaro was one of the Lions who wrestled for a full seven minutes on Sunday. The 149-pounder responded after being pinned by No. 1 Brent Metcalf on Friday with a 6-5 win against No. 2 Kyle Ruschell of Wisconsin.
No. 13 Dave Erwin also showed his national tournament potential with wins over No. 7 Phil Keddy and No. 16 Travis Rutt. Sanderson said if it wasn't for Rutt's baseline defense, Erwin would have scored more takedowns -- a sure sign Erwin has taken on the aggressor role.
Though Molinaro and Erwin showed their upside, the Lions said the matchups weren't make or break.
"Every Big Ten match is going to be a big match," heavyweight Cameron Wade said. "You don't want to lose any match."
Senior Adam Lynch hasn't had problems taking on that approach in the 141-pound weight class. Lynch's stock has increased with two wins over ranked opponents this past weekend. But with the NCAA tournament more than a month away, seeding will fluctuate based on every match.
Wade, Brad Pataky and Cyler Sanderson all responded with Sunday wins against three unranked wrestlers after losing their bouts Friday night. No. 8 Dan Vallimont was the only ranked Lion to lose both of his bouts: losses to No. 5 Ryan Morningstar and No. 1 Andrew Howe.
"We don't want to wait until the Big Tens to beat those guys," Cael Sanderson said. "He can beat them. We know he can."
Luckily for Vallimont, as teammates and coaches agreed, the weekend's matches weren't essential to deciding NCAA tournament potential.
"We just need to make a couple adjustments," Molinaro said. "There are a couple of positions we're getting beat in, but overall, it was pretty good effort."
